How do you avoid common web development mistakes?

I find it extremely helpful to visually wireframe the navigation of the site before getting started. This is especially important when working on sites with hundreds of pages. Depending on the platform being used, the same applies to the database structure. If you're using a CMS like WordPress and will be using custom fields, mapping out all those details in the beginning can help prevent time-consuming changes later in the project.

Planning is essential. You definitely need a design before developing, because changes in a platform like Figma are a lot quicker than making changes in code. But for the actual development, it helps to break the project down into page deadlines to make sure it’s running on time. You can spot early that the project might be running late, and let the client know half way through rather than a day before the deadline

An important part of planning is understanding your client's goals and the goals of the site. You might build the coolest site anyone has ever seen, but if it doesn't help accomplish the client's goals it's worthless.

Avoiding common web development mistakes involves several key practices. First, thoroughly plan your project and define clear requirements to prevent scope creep. Consistently follow coding standards and best practices, such as keeping code DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) and using version control. Regularly test your code to catch and fix bugs early, and ensure your website is responsive and cross-browser compatible. Prioritize website performance by optimizing images and using efficient code. Keep security in mind by validating inputs and implementing proper authentication. Finally, stay updated with the latest technologies and industry trends to maintain high standards.

For coding standards, you should always file the DRY rule: don't repeat yourself. You should follow this strict guideline to reduce any sort of repeated patterns and duplicate code. If you have code duplicated, you will have to change code twice instead of once. One mistake, such as a misplaced curly bracket or missing semicolon, can be your downfall and you don't want to be searching through hundreds or even thousands of lines of code to find your mistake multiple times. The DRY code rule is also needed in case your project gets passed off to someone else. If you write code that only you can understand, no one else will be able to use it. You should always write documentation to support your code.

To avoid changes in coding style when files are worked on by multiple people in different editors, you can add an .editorconfig file to your source control to help set standard rules for the codebase, like line endings and indentation size. You can also add a code formatter that will ensure code is formatted to the codebase style. This will make your code more consistent, and avoid problems where a single line of changed code will show as a whole file change because Bobs editor changed all the lines to 2 space indentation, and Alice wrote it with 4 space indentation.

Be sure not to test only the 'happy path' - i.e. what you expect to happen, with 'logical' data, but also try to break it or give it unexpected data. What if someone creates an appointment in the past? Or sets their age to -1? Or 300? Test with the intent of breaking it, and you'll find your weak spots in your validation or logic rather then just confirming that it works when it does what you expect.

Ensure your website functions flawlessly. Meet user needs and deliver positive experience. Identify and fix errors, bugs, and issues. - Test website for functionality, usability, and accessibility. - Use unit testing, integration testing, and end-to-end testing. - Perform cross-browser testing for compatibility. - Utilize web analytics to gather data. - Get user feedback to improve website. Test your website to ensure flawless functionality and user satisfaction.

Test Across Multiple Devices and Browsers to Ensure your website is tested across various devices (desktop, mobile, tablets) and different web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) to ensure compatibility and consistent user experience.

Make sure to convert PNGs and JPGs to WebP, use vectors when possible, export images from design software at the size you need them x1.5/x2, set videos to lazy load, minify your code as well!

Making a site responsive with cleaner code and optimizing it is important. Using frameworks which use webpack will optimize your code.

Avoid React, Angular, and ORMs. Scale images to different sizes serving them depending on the screen size. Following these recommendations would make 70% of business websites 70% faster.

Updating your website means that you add/ integrate important features to your website to make it more robust and cleaner. It will run faster too.

I always try to begin with my “standard” plugins and a base theme that I know I can manipulate as I need. The package is constantly updated so it’s clean (no bar code or outdated/less useful plugins that I don’t find useful) so that the site is clean and fast. I’ve leaned over (too many) years designing and coding that trying to innovate my process will result in mistakes and longer process.

I agree. I am not an expert, but I do believe that the more websites you build, the more the experience you get out of it. You learn how to tweak the website to make it look better and run faster. Getting feedbacks is also important.

Imagine your website Picturing how you want your website to look like and defining what it's supposed to execute is the first step in my perspective. Depending on the pictured image, the choice can be made to either use a CMS like WordPress or Web Framework like Django as the development direction, what the site is supposed to execute would also play a key role in deciding the development direction.